Recluse

I do have that file as well. I thought it must get generated when Scratchpad is first run taking the config values from the other Lua files. Odd that when I swapped out the Scratchpad-Hook.Lua file when I updated from ScratchPad to the Extensions version, it took the Hotkey from the Hook.lua file as I needed to use the default, vs. taking it from the Config file that would have been there already with my edited Hotkey, which I would have expected since that is the one YOU are editing so it must be persistent.

Huh.. i never knew that existed!! Don't think it makes a difference, though as the first time I installed it, I didn't change the Hotkey and the Keyboard still didn't come up for me.

So the Hotkey changed in ScratchPadPLUS but the latest ScratchPad is still C+S+x. You can change it to whatever you want with a simple lua edit: Scratchpad-hook.lua, or ScratchPadPlus.lua (Note I changed mine to just Shift+x below) You can find this block easily by just searching for hotkey or shift.

Same here.. Originally I removed everything except the Extension version, but after seeing @imackenhad BOTH Scratchpad and ScratchpadPlus installed, I went back and did that. Still no joy on Extensions. Both applications work fine for pulling coords and ScratchPadPlus has the PLUS additions, but NO KEYBOARD/KEYPAD when put in the Extensions folder. I also have a few other files in HOOKS for other mods, but I also tried it after clearing them all out and leaving only Scratchpad related HOOKS. Also on latest Windows 10 Pro. In fact I got a Windows update last night. Odd! My file Dates/sizes match. Time is a bit off but that could be Time zones, or maybe reflecting when they were copied into the folder. Downloaded both the Extensions version and the PLUS from the links in this thread.

My recollection and understanding is similar to yours. The Keyboard was somehow incompatible with pulling the coordinates automatically from the F10 map, so it went away in favor of that feature, and lately returned with the extensions Work in Progress. I still have one of the old versions WITH the keyboard (don't know if it works with 2.8 or not) which I would occasionally trot out for VR note taking. Would be great to have the best of both worlds.

i have been trying on monitor only, but I just tested in VR. Same. Scratchpad with extensions works but no keyboard comes up. What do you mean by ScratchPadPlus? The latest non-extensions version? That worked fine for me in 2d but I didn't try in VR. Never mind!! I found the link to ScratchpadPLUS.. Trying it now. ScratchPadPlus comes up for me in VR. (no keyboard, though) @imackenDo you know that the default hotkey for PLUS is CTRL+SHIFT+w rather than x for the OG scratchpad? Maybe that is why it doesn't come up for you/ EDIT: In VR, for ScratchPadPLUS, I cannot click the INSERT button in VR from the Cockpit view, but I can in the F10 Map. Going to try it in the F/A-18 in monitor view. It would be great to automatically create waypoints!! : IT WORKS!!!! EDIT 2: I manage to click the INSERT button in the Cockpit. Had to click around a bit to get the white dot instead of the green mouse cursor, similar to what happens occasionally with the kneeboard. From the README, WP's are populated in the F/A-18 starting with WP 2, but this means also that if you set your HSI to a later WP (say 1-4 are used and you set to WP5) it will still populate 2 WP's ahead. So if you start at the unused 5, your new WP will be 7. If you insert MULTIPLE WP's it seems like it still skips one, and populates every other one, but I need to mess with it some more.

I guess I was Lucky-ish. I have seen ABOUT a 10-15% reduction in framerate (I7-7700K, RTX 3070, Quest 2) in VR, but I also think the Quality has declined slightly. That could be my imagination. Used to sustain 40 fps with my settings now I am bouncing around 33-36, though I hit 45 at times over featureless terrain or pointing at a clear sky. Still playable, we need all the VR help we can get to squeeze out the performance.

I wouldn't say it is pointless in VR. It works GREAT in VR to pull off coordinates directly from the map. (Broke in 2.8 but fixed now). This satisfies 99% of the use I make of it in VR. - Pull coords off of F10, go to cockpit and transcribe to WP's or Targets. - The other 1%, for jotting down other information, or coordinates provided by JTACS or other Players is a PLUS, and if I can have it, I want it but I wouldn't say it is Pointless without it. Apparently 9 lines are now in the Kneeboard (I haven't tried this out yet) so that is one more thing that we can do without the keyboard, but I am perplexed as to why it works for some and not me, or should I say US @Lange_666

Yep..well everything from SCRIPTS. I didn't copy LICENSE or README: The other scratchpad functions work fine, just the keyboard/keypad not showing up. Also tried Speed of Heats Qwertykeyboard.lua. Still nothing. nullnull

So I downloaded the latest EXTENSIONS version, and I tried both: -copying the Keypad.lua from the EXTENSIONS/DISABLED folder up to the EXTENSIONS Folder. - Also tried copying the QWERTYKEYBOARD.LUA above into Extensions. When I invoke Scratchpad, I don't see either Keypad/Keyboard (one at a time) What am I doing wrong?

YES the box slews up and down with radar elevation changes. I have to say, last night I used it extensively and I didn't notice this issue. It seemed that targets within the AZ/EL box were also in constraints for the radar. SEEMS to be working for me pretty consistently, but I can't say 100% that the original Post situation might not happen.

THANK YOU!!!!! Appreciate the quick fix!

Hey, it looks like today's 2.8 Open Beta update broke Scratchpad! The Scratchpad window still comes up and can be typed into, but it will no longer pull the coordinates off the map Any chance of a fix?? My little group of Multiplayers relied on it heavily. Thanks!!

I am curious about this as well and the diagram above very clearly illustrates my confusion. I would expect that the target below the cone would NOT show up in the AZ/EL constraints, but it clearly DOES, yet it cannot be locked up as it is outside the scan range. I would expect from all the tutorials I have watched (and perhaps WRONGLY) that a datalinked contact within the yellow box of the AZ/EL page SHOULD be within constraints to be locked up by your radar. Now it is clear that it DOES also depend on PRF/Distance/Aspect which could preclude a lock, but I wouldn't have expected the target shown by OP to be shown within the AZ/EL constraints.

The Litening Pod ("old FLIR") also has a TV mode, but it is called "CCD". I typically prefer the LITENING pod use and symbology, so I have not compared "TV" modes between the two.

Agreed that the Data Cartridge is a big thing we are missing, but I am sure once they implement it, there will be lots of complaints about not being able to change things in flight (including LASER CODES on weapons). In the Harrier and the A-10C, there is a CAS system by which the JTAC can automatically send the coordinates to the aircraft, so no data entry required! I imagine in "REAL LIFE" the JTAC/AFAC needs some specialized equipment/radio for this, but maybe on the Modern Battlefield this is standard compared to the old days where maps, talk and smoke were the only options. I think there are some current MODS that try to emulate the DATA CARTRIDGE for WP imports. Kind of works like Scratchpad but goes one step further and creates the WP too. Here is one (I downloaded it but haven't tried it. It uses the PRECISE setting, with coordinates DDMM.mmmm, so it it should be good for TOO targeting. Once the WP's are placed, you can swap over to the DD.MM.SS.ss system. https://github.com/aronCiucu/DCSTheWay There was another one somewhere that I remember which used a Web Site to load WP's and coordinates, but I cannot find it at the moment. EDIT: THE WAY doesn't seem to work in VR. That is probably why I abandoned it. Works well in PANCAKE mode.. EDIT2: I cannot even make it work reliably in PANCAKE mode. Worked once, but not since. EDIT3: It seems to be a function of FRAME RATE. At very high frame rates, THE WAY doesn't work well. Oddly enough, since the FRAME RATES are drastically lower in VR, I can get it to work in VR, but I have to raise the helmet and do the operation on the Screen since THE WAY interface is not visible in VR. Pretty klunky ScratchPad method may be better for VR after all until someone can come up with a WAY in VR.

Thanks for checking me on this. I meant to go back and check on that but I kept forgetting. That's useful to keep track of which stations are needed for which targets. I really like this Video on PP JDAMS (and I think it is up to date, at least it all worked for me as stated) He has a companion video on TOO, but I think it is JUST out of date having been made before they restored the ability to program multiple TOO without overwrites. The Markpoint method shown is still viable, though.

No apology necessary. This stuff changes all the time. AND YES, I agree that otherwise it was a great video. I was just trying to track down WHEN the last change happened, because I found some videos that were 6 months old that I thought were CURRENT, but then I read comments in them to the effect that things were about to change again. I cannot tell you how frustrated a bunch of my friends have been trying to learn all kinds of stuff from Videos, only to find that it had totally changed. It is a little crazy that, in order to keep up to date you have to not only look for the LATEST YouTube Videos, but you have to constantly patrol the Forums to figure out what is going on. For this reason, I USED to only fly with the STABLE BUILD, but then I ended up living with BAD BUGS for a long time and never saw the new stuff, so I turned to the Open Beta and never looked back. It looks like the current iteration happened on the 28-April-2022 OB release or JUST about 6 months ago DCS: F/A-18C Hornet by Eagle Dynamics Fixed:JDAM TOO - TOO will now be saved when stepping stations and TOO ½. More recently, there was a fix to the way QTY worked: 18-May-2022: Fixed: JDAM TOO / PP behaviour when using QTY. Not sure what this change was, but I know that for PP you can now select the Stations under the QTY section and I don't believe you can adjust the QTY at all for TOO, though you can program multiple stations, you drop one at a time (which was done in that Video, though I THINK at the time TOO allowed a QTY to be set)

@Phantom711 The Scratchpad works GREAT in VR... The original scratchpad had a little keyboard for use in VR, but that is not needed any more for pure COORDINATE scraping off the map. The only thing I have to do that breaks my VR use is use the Scratchpad keyboard shortcut to get the Scratchpad up and make it go away because I keep forgetting to start JOYSTICK GREMLIN and vJoy to pass the key stroke from a HOTAS button. (My WInWIng SIMAPPPRO doesn't allow direct mapping of keystrokes) Very easy to setup. Also, that is a great video, but it is a little out of date. The way JDAMS work has changed several times over the course of the evolution. - Originally, the coordinates would pass to a TOO JDAM whenever the FLIR was active. As you moved the FLIR, you could see coordinates changing. NOW you must hit TDC depress to pass the coordinates. - Earlier, if you didn't hit UNDESIGNATE when moving to an already programed station, the new Coordinates would overwrite the old ones. This is not needed any longer. Until you do a TDC DEPRESS, or a WPDESG when on a station, the coordinates programmed will persist. You can now: Select a TOO Station. Designate a target. Select another station.. Designate a target etc.. When done, you can select the station you want to drop from and there is no need to UNDESIGNATE.

Here's another tip that helped me out. LALT-Y on steroids! Especially helpful for VR, but all around useful. I refer of course to the SCRATCHPAD mod: https://github.com/rkusa/dcs-scratchpad Here's a YOUTUBE VIDEO. Really easy to grab coordinates in 2 different systems including JDAM friendly and GRID for map locations. Obviates the need to transcribe them from the map. Here's another tip that I found useful for TOO attacks to give yourself a double check that the FLIR coordinates and the JDAM coordinates are the same: HSI-->DATA--> Click PRECISE (will get you the 10 digit Grids and the expanded LATLONG) By Default, PRECISE LATLONG is in DDMM.mmmm, so to switch to DD.MM.SS.ss, go to the HSI-->DATA-->AC tab use PB15 to switch coordinate systems from DCML to SEC and now you will have a unified coordinate system of DD.MM.SS.ss for your Waypoints, JDAM and FLIR readouts. As I was playing with this, I realized a simple way to make sure I had the correct station selected. I used to just leave it alone and use the STEP command to get to the "right" station. For a SINGLE drop, I now go to QTY and just select the station I know has the PP coordinates I want. If I am dropping multiple PP JDAMS at once, then I will select all the stations dropping with one pickle. For TOO, I drop one at a time and if I have programmed multiple stations for dropping multiple JDAM in rapid sequence, then I DO have to pay attention to the Selected Station as they cycle or STEP through the stations.

So I was turning away from the target area to go back to the carrier. I noticed that even out of AG mode, TCN mode on, I couldn't get rid of the DIamond pointing to the target, and I can't recall if I even saw the TACAN steering pointer. I did indeed power down the weapon at which point I could UNDESIGNATE and get the usual TACAN steering symbology. I think this might have happened when they fixed the issue of Coordinates Over-writing the JDAMS all the time, so in exchange for that, I will gladly power down my weapon on egress. I guess I hadn't noticed it because usually all the JDAMS were off the rails by the time I turned for home. As long as there is a workaround, I'm OK with it. Moving from TOO to PP (empty) also frees up the UNDESIGNATE and I think returns the HMD symbology as well but I don't recall 100%.

@Phantom711 Apologies if I misconstrued anything. I was reacting to this line in your reply, but I get what you mean. I find WP/TOO more versatile except if I do want to drop multiple bombs against different targets simultaneously (which you also did mention, so we still agree ) In DCS anyway, if you put PRECISE coordinates in to make a WP on top of a known target, and use WP Designate to feed them to the TOO JDAM, the effect is just as good as PP, which is what I meant. In both modes I sometimes struggle making sure I have the right Station selected for the right target, so Rich Man or Poor Man, *I* can still screw it up

Thanks!!! I don't know why I failed to find that in my initial search!!

If I understand, you had WP 1-3 from the Mission Editor and you wanted to add 4-7 from Coordinates you had? Did you go to the HSI-->DATA page, and use the UFC to add a waypoint? I usually use the HSI to move to a new WP which shows all zeros, and then hit UFC and enter the GRID or LAT LONG. Then advance to the next WP and repeat. This will give you the WPs that you can WPDESG for a TOO JDAM. As @Phantom711 said, you can (if you have or have converted to DDMMSS.SS ) enter them directly into the JDAM for a PP mode. In this case you will NOT have Waypoints to follow, but when you select the JDAM, you will get steering and TMR cues to guide you in. I much prefer the "POOR MAN's METHOD" using WPs because I can use GRIDS, and I can follow the WPS, Designate and fine tune the lock with my FLIR... To each their own.

Thought I would post this here before logging it as a bug, since it might be "CORRECT AS IS". One of my buddies was going nuts the other night not being able to RE-DESIGNATE with the HMD, not able to UNDESIGNATE a target. Last night I came across the same thing trying to head back to the Carrier and engage TACAN, but I couldn't get rid of my System Designation target diamond. Here is what we found: - If you have a JDAM on board in TOO mode with target coordinates plugged in, it will provide steering cues. If you want to CHANGE the target, you can do so with WP Desg or FLIR TDC, and feed new COORDINATES to the JDAM. You cannot, however get the Targeting reticle back up on the HMD as long as the JDAM is holding a target. Similarly, you cannot use the UNDESIGNATE to lose the System Designation. UNSELECTING the JDAM will fix it. Changing the JDAM from TOO to PP (without entering any PP coordinates) will fix it Expending all JDAMs will Fix it. (I don't recall if merely STEPPING to an un targeted JDAM will fix it... have to try that, but, you would be SOL with only one left). It doesn't seem like this behavior arose until a recent OB Patch, but I don't recall anything in the PATCH NOTES specifically. IF it seems like a BUG, I'll create a TRK and post over on the BUG FORUM, but, meanwhile, to reproduce, Feed some TOO coordinates to a JDAM, then TRY to UNDESIGNATE or use the HMD to desginate a new target. Thanks!